Saturday, August 15, 2009

Winding Down... Starting Up!

So. A week from today (viernes… Friday… as I’m writing this) I depart from what I’ve come to call home these past 10 weeks, Yanacoto, to start the adventura in my site.There is no other way to describe this process except bittersweet. And I don’t know how to translate that in espanol!I feel so torn because, as seen from my last post, my site is pretty awesome and I’m excited to start work and live in the place I will be for two years, but I also really love the host familia I have now, the friends I have made here during Cuerpo de Paz Training, the staff and teachers who have supported (and will continue to support) me, the familiarity of this part of Peru, the delicious cheesecake that this wonderful little place makes just down the road from the center J etc, etc.So I will try not to think about it this coming week and just disfrutar la vida instead. I originally thought I was going to stay an extra week to learn some basic Quechua, but as Dario (the Quechua speaking professor here) is from Arequipa and knows that dialect, it doesn’t make sense for me to stay.Side Nota: Great Aunt Ellen sent me an awesome email telling me that the Star Wars made up language was based mostly off of Quechua! Awesome, no?It WILL be useful upon my return to the states! JBut now I’m not staying and so I will have to say goodbye to the family here. (Belgian Emilie:how did you switch three families during your stay in California??? It’s sooo difficult!)Another Side nota:Randol (my host bro) now owns a Snapper Jack’s Taco Shack Sweatshirt and likes it! Yay!I will soon have all of Peru decked out in Ventura gear… J

I’ll probably be making one of my epic “To Do” lists that I never actually finish but I feel better when I make them tomorrow of all the things that should or I want to get done before the trek to site and commencement of work.Also manana,I have my final Spanish entrevista (interview) to see what level I’m in, I still would like to learn how to hand wash clothes, I want to print some pics for my host familia as a present, and go to Lisa’s host mom’s Birthday fiesta.So, it will be a packed dia for sure.

I am making a Treasure Hunt for some girls in Yanacoto on Sunday (yay for all the treasure hunts we made for cousins!) so that will be fun. I hope to skype with people this week! I will try and see if I can get on the internet most days (seeing as after this week internet visits will be few and far between). Onward and Upward!